Got the opportunity to interview former Dallas Cowboy great Jay Novacek on Wednesday and I walked away with maybe more questions than I went in with.
It was his first trip to Orange so I let him know it was the hometown of his former teammate Kevin Smith…(crickets)…he said nothing. Slightly nodded his head. So I followed with, “You guys play as a team but do you really get to know the defensive players on the roster? And he said something to the affect, “Don’t want to because they’re stupid.” Maybe he was fishing for a laugh. Didn’t happen.
Things started to smooth out as we continued to look back at his career. His pro career started bad with the Cardinals but as we know things turned around when he got to Dallas as he became an All-Pro. Had to figure a lot of that had to do with what I assumed was a great relationship with Troy Aikman. Uhhh maybe not after he didn’t fill the room with stories of Troy. Obviously the respect was mutual but he said that running his routes the same over and over gave Aikman the confidence that he could throw it, even if he didn’t see him, and he would be there. OK, cool.
So we talk about him transitioning after his career was over. I asked did he ever think about coaching because his father was a coach. Quickly he said “oh no” and then added he doesn’t like coaches. Again not what I was expecting. I said well I guess I’ll scratch the next question (which was not true) of asking you who your favorite coach was? And he said, “Oh I’ll tell you who my favorite coach is….it’s Barry Switzer.” Well that silenced me and the crowd as he went on to say why. I think if I had known that before the interview 5-6 questions would’ve been different.
And that really made me want to ask him about the Aikman video where he goes off on the sidelines on Switzer and his laid back style but I have to remember that he’s the paid guest, this is a Salvation Army fundraising event, and we were limited on time. Honestly I was glad it wasn’t a cookie cutter interview and I did appreciate his candidness. He was also very friendly with photos and autographs, and he got to meet with some of the LCM and BC football players.
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I was not surprised by the reaction I’ve received from the latest Behind the Mic podcast with Korey Burris. In fact one listener said they had to stop and then come back to it to finish it because it was just too much. I was not aware of all of the things that have happened to him since he attempted to take his life. And I want to believe he is now helping others and doing things the right way but there were a few things he said that concerned me as to his future. Hopefully he proves me wrong.
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Two weeks ago we talked about the day Riley Harris had on Toledo Bend where he caught five bass weighing 40 lbs. Now I’m wondering if he shared his spot with Casey Burleigh because he had an incredible day on TBend last weekend and picked a good time to do it during the Big Bass Splash.
I have followed those tournaments on Rayburn and Toledo for years and I have never seen a local angler, or any angler, collect a check in EIGHT different hours of the tournament. He caught a 4.89, 6.05, 6.41, 8.81, 7.42, 6.16, 5.70, and 9.09. Congrats Casey on an incredible day. And he wasn’t lucky. The young man can fish.
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The Bassmaster Elite event on the Sabine did nothing to help the dilemma between fishing and fishing with forward facing sonar. In fact all it did was throw a 55 gallon barrel of gasoline on it.
The message boards have been lit up following what half the people called a boring dinkfest and the other half saying they loved the tough old-school fishing with no FFS. The Sabine was tough in the past events where guys were claiming to catch 100 fish a day to barely keep five. The high water this time around made it tough just to get bit as the tournament shattered the record for lowest winning weight at 38-12 for four days by Pat Schlapper. But the way he did it, with a early Sunday morning buzzbait bite was fun to watch and made the weigh-in exciting with Patrick Walters and Kyoya Fujita tied for second.
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Tony Dallas passed away on May 14 and his memorial will by May 26. I can’t think of anyone I know or knew that had such a tough outside and such a soft inside. Through the toughness he would give you the shirt off his back. He would make me laugh and many times would make me change the way I think.
I will remember the many years Tony attempted to find the KOGT Mardi Gras Treasure and when he did, he had to have me deliver his prize money in one dollar bills so he could fan himself while rubbing his win in others faces.
I will remember him coaching Jack and Chad around 10 years old and they ran the trick play at the goal line where QB Jack pretends to walk off the field like something is wrong and they direct snap to the running back for a touchdown while the defense is watching Jack give an Oscar winning performance as he walks to the sidelines. I literally fell to the ground in laughter and surprise and Tony looks at me with his hands out and says, “What?” with a grin on his face. Even though that particular play was legal according to Tony, he was known for saying, “If you ain’t cheatin’ you ain’t tryin.”
I will remember him wearing sunglasses on the sidelines during a WOS game to hide the tears as his daughter Leigh Anne was going to sing the national anthem. As I texted him from the press box to rib him about the glasses I could see a tear down his cheek as he was covertly shooting me the finger.
If you knew TD, you have a TD story. I was fortunate to have many.
-Gary Stelly-
gstelly66@gmail.com
Volume 1 No. 18
The Juice is a weekly column where Gary Stelly discusses things that happened the past week and mixes it with 40 years of being involved in the Orange County community. (If we think of a better way to explain it we’ll change it) You can also check out his podcast by clicking on the Behind the Mic banner on the KOGT.com front page.
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